Mele Kalikimaka
by Toni Harrison
Summary: A christmassy fic a week or two early.  Schmaltz alert! Hope you enjoy.


Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas)

So it's over a week early? Pffttt.. A little one shot just cos I felt like it. A bit of schmaltz, angst and christmassyness all rolled into one.

NB. Quick amendment made to avoid massive stupidity.

Spoilers: 2x10 onwards I guess. And for a certain Christmassy James Stewart film from the 1940s.

Disclaimer: Not mine, just for fun.

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><p>11am Christmas Eve<p>

'Just go okay, Hawaii will manage without you for a few days, unlike Gracie'. Steve is practically booting Danny out the door as he struggles under the weight of his suitcase and extra bags for presents.

'You sure now?' Danny replies as he turns to face Steve taking in every moment in his partner's face. 'If I even think for one second you're going to spend the next few days in this office doing nothing except mope around and chase bad guys on your own, so help me, I will wrap you up in this particularly garish wrapping paper and box you off to the mainland myself'.

Steve laughs softly and says again 'Go!' before adding 'Give my love to Gracie' and Danny's running behind already and really he just can't wait to go to see his Monkey. 'Ok, I believe you, no one else would, be good and please please please stay out of trouble, if not for me, then for Santa?' Catching sight of Steve's slightly exasperated face he laughs 'Too much, okay I'm outta here' He rushes off and out of the office and suddenly it's quiet.

Steve's bored out of his brains less than 30 minutes later. He's not exactly regretting sending Chin away on leave for a couple of days and Kono to be with her new boyfriend for the same amount of time as her cousin and Danny but he's fairly close to it. It wouldn't be so bad if the entire criminal population of Hawaii hadn't seemingly decided to be on vacation too. For a moment, he entertains the idea that Wo Fat choosing now to come back to Hawaii would be a perfect excuse to call his team back and a way to forget hat Christmas is happening. That thought's soon gone, unfortunately though it leaves behind the debris of all the Wo Fat mess from North Korea.

He reaches into his drawer for the scotch he so very rarely craves but think he can safely permit himself now when he feels something in the drawer that wasn't there earlier this afternoon. It's wrapped up tastefully in light blue wrapping paper with snowflakes in silver on it and has the words 'open me' written in capitals on it. He looks around him expecting at any moment to see elves pop out or Danny, they're the same height pretty much after all.

He shrugs to himself, it's not Christmas day yet but who's keeping watch on him anyway? So he tears apart the paper and smiles as he sees what it is. Memories come back from earlier that week.

_'Oh my god boss, you mean you'_v_e never seen it?' Steve doesn't think he's ever seen Kono looks so incredulous which is pretty good going given the things they've been witness to over the last year or two. _

_'No, what's so special about it?' he replies as really he hasn't got a clue how she could get so excited by a film he's not seen._

_Danny chooses that moment to walk in 'What's all this then?'._

_'He's not seen It's a wonderful life' Kono cries pointing at her boss, still incredulous._

_Danny gapes for a moment and then shakes his head at Kono. 'You're surprised? I can tell you now what film this man has watched, and probably memorised and modelled himself upon over the years'. Kono waits expectantly. Steve does too but with the certainty that what will follow will no doubt include an insult._

_'The Grinch of course' And Kono bursts with laughter, creasing in two. And soon they're both laughing far more than Danny's little joke really deserves._

_'What's so special about it then?' he repeats. Kono starts to sing under her breath 'Buffalo girls won't you come out tonight' before Danny finishes 'and dance by the light of the moon'. Kono nods approvingly and turns her attention back to Steve. 'You'll see'. She says. _

He smiles at the DVD, shame his DVD player isn't working at home, anyway he's sure he can google IMDB for spoilers. He then remembers the DVD player in the main room, hell he's got no plans of spending Christmas at home, not on his own with all the memories. Nothing wrong with spending a little time watching a movie. He nods to himself. Time to do some work first though.

Two hours later and Danny'll kill him if he finds out so he thinks briefly of swearing the HPD officers and Paramedics to secrecy as the medics patch up his forehead and arm where the perp had slashed at his arm and hit his head with the four by four before he managed to trip him up and somehow or other cuff him before the lights faded a little. Serves him right really for heading to the store for some refreshments ahead of watching the film. Typical of his luck that some idiot was in there deciding to make himself some extra pocket money for Christmas day. Well, at least he'd get a nice night in the cells and maybe some turkey dinner in jail tomorrow.

He bats away any suggestion of a visit to the hospital and instead promises the medic that no he won't be alone tonight and yes he'll remember to take the meds. A white lie perhaps but who's around to judge him?

He heads back to the office and it's dark when he gets back. He doesn't turn on the lights initially but instead just walks around the main area, he knows it like the back of his hand, every corner, he can place a memory at every part of the office and for a moment, he allows himself to feel a completely alien emotion, melancholy. As soon as he allows it, he shakes his head slightly before he remembers, not such a good idea after all and he finds a chair to sit down briefly.

He soon recovers his equilibrium and moves to turn on the lights. He heads back into his office looking in the drawer for the DVD, he curses briefly as he realises he put it in on top of the DVD player already. Stupid head wound. He sees something bright though in the drawer just as he goes to close it and puzzled, he reaches for it, he didn't notice it before? His powers of observation definitely going downhill. He pulls it out and it's brightly coloured garish wrapping paper. From somewhere a memory stirs. Again there's a tag with the words 'OPEN ME'. In capital letters so he does.

And in there's a box of popcorn, a can of Dr Pepper and a little note 'just imagine you're in a movie theater, okay?'. He chuckles softly. Danno alright.

And so he picks up the items and heads to the DVD player and after preparing the popcorn, the drink and the seat, he reaches for the play button then the lights and he watches.

A couple of hours later and as the credits roll, Steve remains still for a few moments. He's thinking deeply and he turns the light on his watch. Nah, not too late.

He turns on the lights and heads to his office. Picking up the phone, it surprises him when he can just remember the number off by heart. The voicemail greeting disappoints him more than he'd expect but doesn't surprise him. As the tone heralds his queue to speak, he realises he doesn't know what to say 'Hey, it's me, it's Christmas Eve and it's getting late, I just wanted to say Hi, so Hi. Call me if you like, Merry Christmas sis'. He sighs as he replaces the handset.

He looks around him, looks at his cell, no messages. Why he's surprised, he's not sure. He debates contacting HPD to see if anything's going down he should know about or could help them with. He decides against it and he thinks to himself, small steps and won't Danny be proud? He thinks to himself even more, that's a bit sad to think about that.

He prepares the sofa and settles in for the night.

* * *

><p>It's 7am on Christmas morning when he wakes, and for a moment he's forgotten where he is. Not for long though and after raising his head slightly, the headache and the pull in his arm soon remind him of the day before and where he is. He puffs out a breath and rests his head back on the arm of the sofa. After another hour, he gets up, rubbing blearily at his eyes. He reaches for his cell, it's force of habit more than hope really, there's nothing on his phone other than a service announcement from the cellular provider wishing him a Merry Christmas. Well, that sums it up.<p>

He moves to his drawer, and opens it reaching for his toothpaste, brush and floss. Surprising himself for the flash of disappointment he feels that there's nothing there waiting for him to open it.

He nearly falls over it as he heads into the main room as he's barely watching where he's going, but there in the middle of the room is a large object wrapped up and it's in some kind of basket. He looks around him suspiciously, half expecting Wo Fat to emerge from it when he sees the note. Different writing this time, writing he kind of recognises but goodness knows where from so he picks up the note and reads it 'OPEN ME …... AT HOME ONLY'.

He smirks to himself. And he looks around him at the office, he really should be home. It's crazy to be hiding from the memories when they're all he has of his family. His mom and his dad. There's a reason why he's here on his own and will be on his own at home, time to shake himself out of it and live a little.

He struggles to pick up the basket as it's heavy and awkward and his arm's hurting like a bit of a bitch. He moves to go out the door when he remembers something so he gently puts down the basket, moves over to the DVD player and puts the DVD in his pocket. Good thing he controls the CCTV in this office.

He arrives home an hour later stopping off on the way for some water and beer. He sets down the present in the basket and starts to take the wrapping off. What's in there blows him away, a full turkey, salad, stuffing, chestnuts, pudding, flan, beer, potato chips, and really too much else to take in. And right at the bottom, a picture of them all He reaches for his cell again. Still nothing but hell that's not an excuse so he spends 10 minutes preparing a text message that would take most a couple of minutes to compose. When he's satisfied, he sends it.

He looks back at the hamper, it'd be rude really not to at least start with the turkey so he sets his oven, puts it in and decides it's time for a long walk.

It's a long good walk on what's a glorious day out there. He picks up the towel and rubs the sweat from him, and the turkey smells amazing, come to think of it so does everything else. He stops briefly, slightly confused and given he's never one for taking anything unusual as a good sign he reaches underneath the stone on the lanai and pulls out the gun. He moves slowly and swiftly through the house and there's not a sound so he heads to the kitchen, and there's still nothing unusual except that when he pulls the oven door open, the vegetables are in there with him, and though he knows he may be slightly concussed he can't remember preparing them.

He looks around him and sets out back into the living room when he hears it. A tiny sound like a laugh followed by a swift shush. And he follows the sound from where it came and there's another sound and then he hears it 'Look, Daddy. Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings'

'That's right, that's right. Attaboy, Clarence'. And he turns around and his TV is on and there's a DVD player and it's that damn film again. He says out loud 'What? What's going on?'.

And then from nowhere,they appear. Chin and Malea, Kono and Tommy, Danny and..Gracie. And he's stunned by all that when from behind him come a pair of hands over his eyes. 'Hey bro, you gonna help with the vegetables or not' and he actually can barely believe it as he turns around and see Mary Ann McGarrett with an apron on. He pinches himself. He thinks no one notices until 'It's real babe, you think we'd leave you on your own at Christmas?'

He shakes his head. Suddenly he realises of course they wouldn't so he smiles, no, he grins and he looks around his Ohana and simply says 'Mele Kalikimaka'

Well I hope you all have your teeth still as conscious a bit schmaltzy this one. But I couldn't resist. The song Kono and Danny started to sing was from It's a wonderful life. Back with another sometime soon.


End file.
